The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce warned the Government yesterday that Spain may lose 25,952 million of the European funds already allocated due to the delay in the completion of the projects. Without these funds, “the Spanish and Catalan economy would lose the opportunity to use lost resources that the EU has made available”.
That is why the Chamber urges the Central Government to accelerate direct transfers so that the goal of reaching 69,000 million can be achieved in 2023. Of this figure, the State could still request and receive 25,952 million already allocated. It does not refer to the execution of projects, but to the allocation of resources for a specific project or a transfer to an autonomous community or a municipality. Then it is the communities or municipalities that tender and execute the projects.
This is one of the main conclusions of the monograph Next Generation EU Fund: execution and evaluation, which analyzes the progress in the use of the funds by the State and the Generalitat.
“The rate of mobilization of funds by the State is not being what was desired”, points out the institution headed by Mònica Roca. “It is worrying that the funds made (obligations recognized) by the State in 2022 were lower than in 2021 and only 69% of the budgeted credit was fulfilled”, he adds.
On the other hand, it can be seen that the rate of mobilization of funds until April 2023 is similar to last year, although the budget expected to be executed this year is 24% higher .
But this has an added problem: “The resources coming from Europe must pass, at least, up to three levels of decision and management, and this makes it difficult for them to reach the real economy”, warns the Chamber.
Among the causes of the low utilization, the Chamber highlights the slow execution of the Perte and the low degree of realization of the funds allocated by the Ministry of Industry.
The Pertes, who concentrate a very important part of the funds, are still in an initial phase and the degree of execution is very low. At the end of 2022, calls had only been resolved for an amount equivalent to 29% of the funds that must be allocated before December 2023. Given that 52% of the public investment planned through these projects has to comply with this deadline, the activation of the Perte for renewable energies, renewable hydrogen and storage, as well as those for electric vehicles and agri-food, is particularly relevant, according to the study. For the Perte of microelectronics and semiconductors there is more time, until the end of 2026, although it should start to be defined now, taking into account the investment it represents: 12,250 million.
